Brioche - BWJ

By norsegal8

In France, the brioche is baked in several forms and used for everything from keeping the morning’s café au lait company to serving with foie gras and Sauternes or caviar and Champagne. While function often follow form, the two most popular forms, the Parisienne, or tête, and the Nanterre, or loaf, provide enough flexibility to allow them to function deliciously in almost any situation. The tête is probably the most familiar shape; made in a fluted mold, it sports a golden topknot of dough and can be either large, the true Brioche Parisienne, or small. Its cousin, the loaf-shaped Nanterre, is elegantly designed, made by positioning six balls of dough in a loaf pan so that when they rise they touch one another but maintain their inviting knobby shape. (This is the bread that makes the most extraordinary French toast.) Each recipe of brioche will make either three large Parisiennes or three loaves à la Nanterre.

Ingredients

• TÊTES (PARISIENNE)
• 1 recipe brioche dough, chilled
• 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water, for egg wash
• LOAVES (NANTERRE)
• 1 recipe brioche dough, chilled
• 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water, for egg wash

Details

Servings 3

Preparation

Step 1

TÊTES
Butter 3 large fluted brioche pans, using a pastry brush to make sure you get into the flutes; set aside.
Divide the dough into thirds. Keep the remaining dough covered in the refrigerator while you work with one piece at a time. Put one piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface and, using your dough scraper, cut off a hunk of dough that is a scant one third of the piece. Work the larger piece of dough gently and quickly between your hands and against the work surface to form a smooth ball. Drop the ball into the buttered mold.
Roll the smaller piece of dough into a pear shape. Use your fingers to make a depression in the center of the dough that is in the mold and fit the narrow top of the pear-shaped piece of dough into the depression. Pinch and press the dough together as needed to make sure that the seam between the large and small pieces of dough is sealed. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Cover the pans with a piece of buttered plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Lightly brush the brioche with egg wash, taking care not to let the glaze dribble into the mold (it will hurt the dough’s rise in the oven). Working quickly, use the ends of a sharp pair of scissors to snip 2 or 3 slits in each larger ball of dough. Bake the brioche for about 30 minutes, or until they are deeply golden and an instant-read thermometer plunged into the center of the bread (plunge from the bottom) reads 200°F. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, cover them loosely with an aluminum foil tent. Cool to room temperature on a rack.

LOAVES (NANTERRE)
Butter three 8 ½- by 4 ½- by 2 ½-inch loaf pans; set aside.
Divide the dough into thirds. Keep the remaining dough covered in the refrigerator while you work with one piece at a time. Using a dough scraper, divide the piece of dough into 6 equal pieces and, on a lightly floured work surface, shape each piece into a ball. Place the balls in a loaf pan side by side so that you have 3 rows, each with 2 balls of dough. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Cover the pans with a piece of buttered plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Lightly brush the brioche with the egg wash, taking care not to let the glaze dribble down into the pan (it will hurt the dough’s rise in the oven). Working quickly, use the ends of a sharp pair of scissors to snip a cross in each ball of dough. Bake the brioche for about 30 minutes, of until they are deeply golden and an instant-read thermometer plunged into the center of the bread (plunge from the bottom) reads 200°F. If the bread appears to brown too quickly, cover them loosely with an aluminum foil tent. Cool to room temperature on a rack.